Fuehrer
History The German title Fuehrer, meaning leader or guide, was adopted by Adolf Hitler in his role as head of the NSDAP. It was later incorporated into his official title in 1934, when he became Fuehrer und Reichskanzler des Deutsches Volkes (Fuehrer and Reich Chancellor of the German Peoples). Subsequent to his removal from office in 1944, Hitler received the title Fuehrer aller Germanen (Fuehrer of All Germanic Peoples). This title was both an honourific and Hitler's official title as founder and leader of the Greater German Reich, the intergovernmental organisation of the Germanic nations. The title Fuhrer has cognates in various other languages: Arkhigos: used in Greece by Ioannis Metaxas, in direct imitation of Hitler's use of Fuehrer. Due to the term's similarity to the Greek word for king (Archon), and the form of collective leadership that replaced Metaxas, it has fallen into disuse. Basbug: Turkish for leader. Title first used by Alparslan Turkes from 1965 as leader of his party. Batoni: Georgian equivolent of lord or chieftan. The title was adopted by Irakli Bagration-Mukhraneli in his role as leader of Georgia when he was explicitly refused the use of the word 'king' by his German sponsors. Caudillo: used across the Spanish-speaking world. Francisco Franco of Spain is known as Cuadillo de España por la Gracia de Dios (Caudillo By God's Grace). Chef-du-People: used in the former Belgian province of Wallonie, now part of the Netherlands, by Leon Degrelle. A deliberately ambiguous term, not referring to a specific office, it is analagous to the Dutch and Flemish title of Landsleider or Leider van het Volk. At the time it was popularised, Wallonie was due to be annexed to the German Reich. Chefe Nacional: adopted by Plinio Salgado in Brazil in his role as head of AIB, even after rising to the head of government the term was not widely used, as Salgado was largely in the shadow of Getulio Vargas, known by the affectionate and patrician title 'O Pai dos Pobres' (Father of the Poor). After Vargas' death, the regime attempted to popularise the term, to some effect. Conducator: used in Romania by the leaders of the Iron Guard, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu and Horia Sima. General Ion Antonescu attempted to co-opt the title to refer simply to the head of government. Sima continued to use the title as both Iron Guard leader and head of government from 1958. Datong: Chinese term, used by the head of government of Manchuria or Manchukuo. Duce or Dux: Italian and Latin equivalent terms used by Benito Mussolini and his successors in Italy. Refers only to the head of the National Fascist Party and of the Italian government, the head of state is the Emperor (Imperatore or Imperator). Forer: used in Denmark, Norway and Iceland, by the leaders of the those countries' National Socialist Party, and adopted to refer to the head of government after each country's Nazification process. Khagan: Mongol term equivalent to 'emperor' or 'king of kings' (similar to the Iranian Shahanshah). It is used in Mongolia to refer to the reigning monarch. Also used is Yekhe Khagan, or Great Khagan. Landsleider or Leider: used in the Netherlands, in the current Provinces of Dietsland and Flanders. The term is most frequently used in conjuction with 'of the people' (van het volk) as an honourific rather than a political officer. This is a holdover from the period when the Netherlands and Belgium were expected to be annexed to the German Reich. The Walloon equivolent was Chef-du-People-Walloon. Leader: originally used by Sir Oswald Mosley as head of the British Union of Fascists. He later dropped the title as essentially 'un-English'. Lingxiu: used by Chiang Kai-shek as leader of Nationalist China. Due to the end of his career, the term has fallen into disuse. Mili Sef: 'national chief' title first used in 1938 by the president of Turkey Ismet Inonu, it became established as the honourific for all those holding the post. Nemzetvezeto: used by Ferenc Szalasi in his role as head of government of Hungary. Poglavnik: used in Croatia by Ante Pavelic as leader of the Ustasa and head of the Croatian government. Riksledaren: used in Sweden by Birgir Furugard as leader of the National Socialist Party, later adopted by Sven Olov Lindholm and Per Engdahl to refer to the head of the Swedish government. Sarsanghchalak: used in India by the 'Supreme Chief' of the Hindu-nationalist RSS, and later adopted by RSS leader Madhav Saradshiv Golwalkar in his role as head of the Dominion government. Golwalkar is also known by the honourific Param Pujaniya Guruji. Ult Lideri: used in East Turkistan, by the head of state designated by Japan. The term is understandable in all Turkic languages and is designed to appeal to the Turkic people as a whole. Vodca: used in the Slovak state, in imitation of the German title. The title is more an honourific than a specific title of office, due to the ambiguous nature of Slovakia's status. Vozhd': used in the former USSR as an honourific for Josef Stalin. Adopted by Konstantin Rodzaevsky, as leader of the Russian Fascist Party and later of chief of the truncated Russian homeland. As with similar titles in regions under German rule, it avoids specific mention of an office, and is simply an honourific.